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On June 19, 1865, news of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing American slaves finally reached Galveston, Texas–a full two and a half years after it was signed. Accounts differ as to why it took so long for the slaves of Texas to be told of their freedom, but they didn’t hesitate to celebrate, dubbing the day Juneteenth. For decades, Juneteenth celebrations were common in Black communities, but the holiday gradually faded into obscurity as it was written out of history. Still, the annual celebrations never completely stopped, taking the form of barbecues, church services, and, this year in Chicago, a comedy show.

Bosses in Bonnets, a sketch group made up of Black women, and Preach, an improvised spoken word collective made up of artists of color, are coming together for Pass the Plate: A Juneteenth Celebration. The virtual show will take place on each group’s Instagram page (@Bossesinbonnets and @Preachimprov) starting at midnight on Friday, June 19, with 19 different videos featuring sketches and poetry dropping every hour. Eventually all the videos will be available as a playlist on YouTube for those who can’t watch along in real time, but the idea is for these artists of color to hold space for the Black community all day long.

“We wanted to set it up almost as like a sketch festival or video festival where we’ll have the program out before we release our sketches to let people know when things are happening and when they can see certain performers perform their pieces,” says Ashley Bland, a member of Bosses in Bonnets. “We wanted to make it a day of celebration since [Juneteenth] should be nationally recognized as a day of celebration.”

Trinidad and Tobago was the first country to declare Emancipation Day a national holiday in 1985, and since then other Caribbean countries have followed suit. In the U.S., Juneteenth is still only recognized as a state holiday, with three states–Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota–still holding out. And even in places like here in Illinois, where it has been a state-recognized holiday since 2003, there is not a universal agreement to celebrate by giving folks the day off work and encouraging cookouts and parties the way there is surrounding things like Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, and still many don’t even know what the holiday is. Bosses in Bonnets and Preach hope that Pass the Plate puts Juneteenth on more people’s radar.

The members of Bosses in Bonnets first had the idea to do a Juneteenth show earlier this year–before there was even a threat of the city shutting down–and have been working on sketches for it ever since. Originally the show was going to be staged at Steppenwolf, but when the theater canceled its June programming, the group decided to pivot to putting on a virtual show so as to not waste the material they were already working on. At the same time Preach was thinking about putting on a Juneteenth show. That’s when Kayla Pulley, who is a part of both groups, brought them together to not only collaborate but lighten the load of work that goes into putting together a virtual show, something neither group has done.

The show has been built through weekly Zoom video meetings that serve as more than just brainstorming sessions. “For my mental health it’s been good because it’s the one thing that’s been constant right now,” Pulley says. “It’s something to continue lifting us all up during this time. Also creatively it’s been really cool because like, one of us will have an idea and bounce ideas off of each other, and then we see all the different places this one idea can be taken. And that’s a really cool thing with collaboration happening is just how all of us have started using different parts of our imagination while working with each other.”

Bland agrees, “It’s just kind of a creative party, which I love. It’s really been therapeutic as well because along with being a think tank, it’s been like we’ve been able to sort of confide in each other and let each other know that with everything going on that we’re gonna be OK.”

Some of the material Bosses in Bonnets originally created will remain in the lineup, but the content continued to evolve and grow in reaction to the ever-changing world the groups were creating in. But overall it is a celebration.

“We want it to be a release, where people feel heard, where there are pieces that they relate to,” Pulley says. “We hope that this show can just be all the feelings that a person needs to feel right now.” v

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Not only is 2020 the Year of Chicago Music, it’s also the 35th year for the nonprofit Arts & Business Council of Chicago (A&BC), which provides business expertise and training to creatives and their organizations citywide. To celebrate, the A&BC has launched the #ChiMusic35 campaign at ChiMusic35.com, which includes a public poll to determine the consensus 35 greatest moments in Chicago music history as well as a raffle to benefit the A&BC’s work supporting creative communities struggling with the impact of COVID-19 in the city’s disinvested neighborhoods.

Another part of the campaign is this Reader collaboration: a series spotlighting important figures in Chicago music serving as #ChiMusic35 ambassadors. This week, we hear from drummer, writer, and educator Martin Atkins. Born in the north of England in 1959, he joined Public Image Ltd in 1979. After stints in London and New York, he moved to Chicago in 1989–“by choice,” as he’s quick to point out. Here he joined seminal industrial band Ministry, formed the supergroup Pigface, and continues to collaborate with a wide range of artists.

This interview was conducted by Ayana Contreras, who’s a DJ, a host and producer at WBEZ radio, and a columnist for DownBeat magazine.

Ayana Contreras: First things first. What’s your favorite Chicago music moment?

Martin Atkins: If you’d asked me this question, I don’t know, six months ago, I would have said the beginning of industrial music, Wax Trax! Records. I’m talking ’89, ’90, ’91, the band Ministry, and the same energy in the city that I felt in London during the beginning of punk rock.

Today, I have a band called Pigface, and we played at Thalia Hall, November 30, 2019. And I’m so happy that we did that. My band is a collective of musicians from other bands and has always been diverse onstage in every conceivable way. But at Thalia Hall we were joined by Gaelynn Lea, who is a disability rights advocate. She won the Tiny Desk competition for NPR. She’s brittle boned and wheelchair bound, and plays fiddle like a cello. That was really special for me.

But also through our connections with Add-2, the Chicago artist, he sent four artists that he is a mentor to: Just Chris, J. Lamar, Dai, and C.A.M. They jumped onstage and performed with us. I’m so happy to have had that connectedness across so many pieces of Chicago happen before things started to come apart. And I think, at least now, we can see them coming back together.

You mentioned that the music scene in Chicago had that same energy when you moved here as London. More broadly, why do you think Chicago musicians, across different genres, have become so influential worldwide? Everyone I’ve asked this question to before you has been a native Chicagoan. So I would imagine that you might have a slightly different perspective on this.

I’ve got to say, there’s people just doing it, not complaining that they wish this could have happened or that could have happened. It’s like, “In the meantime, let’s roll up our sleeves and make all of the difference we are able to do today.”

There are other cities that claim to be the capital of this or the center of that. And I think everybody here is so busy actually doing it that nobody takes the time to wave the flag and talk about it and promote it. It’s a great place to be.

One of the artists that jumped onstage with us, she’s called Dai. And I really like her music. I follow her on Instagram. And most of her posts recently are like, “Hey, we’ve got a car full of diapers and water. And we’re going to be at this location if you need anything.” And it’s just so great to see–not just that energy of people trying to promote themselves, but people being involved in their communities and trying to make a difference. v

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Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.

When classic-rock fans refer to “the Chicago sound” they’re usually talking about bands with horns. The city’s rich history of jazz and soul, with horn sections often at the forefront, influenced its 1960s boom of “horn rock,” exemplified by groups such as Chicago and the Ides of March and innovated by an earlier but less celebrated act called the Mob. As it continued to evolve, this rock-meets-jazz sound would be christened “fusion.”

One Chicago horn-rock band that gets short shrift these days is Chase–no doubt in part because their career was cut short by tragedy. The group’s founder, Bill Chase, was born William Edward Chiaiese in Boston on October 24, 1934 (his Italian American family changed its surname to make it easier for others to pronounce). There were a lot of musicians in the Chase family–Bill’s father was a trumpeter, and a great-uncle on his mother’s side had played for the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra.

Bill started on violin, switched to drums, and then settled on trumpet in 11th grade. After seeing Maynard Ferguson play with Stan Kenton’s orchestra, Chase began taking his own playing more seriously–and shifted his focus from classical to jazz. After graduating high school, he enrolled in the New England Conservatory and then the Berklee College of Music (then called Schillinger House). By 1958, he’d landed a gig with Ferguson’s group, and in the 1960s he recorded and performed extensively with Woody Herman’s legendary band the Herd.

Chase soon became an in-demand soloist, and made several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. In the late 60s, while freelancing in Las Vegas, he developed an itch to start his own ensemble, and in 1969 he began to assemble players. By 1970 he’d formed a nine-piece band named after himself, “Chase,” recruiting three other trumpeters–Ted Piercefield, Alan Ware, and Jerry Van Blair. All were likewise veteran jazz players and skilled arrangers, and Chase backed them up with a rock-style rhythm section: keyboardist Phil Porter, guitarist Angel South, bassist Dennis Keith Johnson, and drummer Jay Burrid. Though Bill Chase had conceived of his group as instrumental, he soon added Terry Richards as lead vocalist.

Chase moved to Chicago in order to take advantage of booking and recording contacts here, and the band played regularly on Rush Street. After signing to Epic Records, they released their self-titled debut LP in 1971, which tapped into the horn-rock zeitgeist–it would turn out to be their commercial peak, and the driving, funky single “Get It On” became their biggest hit.

That year Chase was nominated for a Grammy in the Best New Artist category, losing to Carly Simon. Chase was named the top pop group (and number two jazz group) in the 1971 DownBeat magazine poll, and WBBM even gave them their own local half-hour TV special. The band had a reputation for blowing headliners off the stage, and they toured as far as Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Chase released a second LP, Ennea, in 1972, but during its production they had to replace two crucial members, Burrid and Richards. The album didn’t get the same love as the debut, though the single “So Many People” earned some airplay. Bill Chase soon declared personal bankruptcy, dissolving the band, and when he started rebuilding a few months later, he tried several sounds and lineups, hoping to find a combination that would click with audiences again.

When Chase recorded their third LP, 1974’s Pure Music, Bill Chase himself was the only member remaining from Ennea. The band’s material also changed direction radically, relying less on vocals and more on heady, instrumental jazz fusion. Unfortunately Pure Music wasn’t terribly commercially successful either, despite featuring songwriting and lead vocals from Jim Peterik of the Ides of March. But at least the band were back on the road.

On August 9, 1974 (the day Nixon resigned), Chase were flying to a gig at the Jackson County Fair in Minnesota when bad weather caused their small plane to crash, killing everyone aboard: Bill Chase, keyboardist Wally Yohn, guitarist John Emma, drummer Walter Clark, and the pilot and copilot.

A tribute album titled Watch Closely Now, featuring alumni and associates of the band and released under the name Chase, came out in 1977. Beginning in 2007, surviving members of Chase presented memorial concerts in various cities. In 2014 they finally returned to Chicago for two “Chase Revisited” gigs at Reggies’, which featured original bassist Dennis Johnson–a certified badass who had become a founding member of Peterik’s band Survivor in 1978. v

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On Tuesday, one of Chicago’s most rambunctious festivals, Riot Fest, announced that the scheduled dates for September 11th, 12th, and 13th are no longer happening and that the festival as a whole is being postponed to 2021. They did release the lineup, however, earlier than ever; headliners include My Chemical Romance, Run the Jewels, Smashing Pumpkins, and more. 

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The COVID-19 festival onslaught has Riot Fest joining the ranks of Lollapalooza, Lake Shake, Piqniq, and Pitchfork, among other music festivals, to be canceled for the 2020 festival season. Word has yet to be heard from Mamby on the Beach and North Coast, two of the last remaining major festivals in the summer music festival line-up to not have canceled yet.

The 2021 dates for Riot Fest are September 17th, 18th, and 19th, with September 16th being slated as a special “Thursday Preview Party.” This special Thursday event is free to anyone who has previously purchased a Riot Fest ticket for the 2020 festival, or purchases a ticket in the next 30 days.

Is the Thursday Preview Party worth buying a ticket in the next month just to attend? With some special mystery sets from some bands yet to be announced, a chance to get first dibs on the merch, and ride all the carnival rides you usually pass up during your regularly scheduled Riot Fest-ing, the answer seems like a resounding yes. (Note that there is no option to simply buy a ticket to the Thursday Preview Party; you must have a ticket prior to.)

Refunds are available for all ticket holders or, if you have a friend that doesn’t want to deal with service fees, Riot Fest is also allowing for refunds (via Tixel) or transfer of tickets for up to 30 days (until July 16th). Note that Riot Fest themselves can only refund tickets purchased through Eventbrite, all purchases made from other parties and persons must be refunded through the respective channel. If you purchased a locker rental as well, it will be transferred to 2021 or can also be refunded via Tixel.

To compensate for the cancellation of the festival. Riot Fest gave supporters a peek at their first wave of bands to grace the line-up of the 2021 festival an entire year (and some change) early. The good news is that My Chemical Romance is still slated to play. (The bad news is that we have to wait another year to weep to “Welcome to The Black Parade” and let our mascara run.)

Other notable bands and artists on our radar that we’re excited about include Run the Jewels, Vic Mensa, Beach Bunny, Best Coast, Coheed and Cambria, and K.Flay. The first wave of bands is, by no means, the end of the surprises Riot Fest has in store for us. From the spread of bands and artists already announced, we can confidently say that there’s a little bit of something for everyone out there. Head to Riot Fest’s website for a full list of the first-wave bands and for FAQs regarding tickets and refunds.

See an artist you like on the list? Got any guesses on who will be in the next few waves? Let us know in the comments below!

At UrbanMatter, U Matter. And we think this matters.

Tell us what you think matters in your neighborhood and what we should write about next in the comments below!

Featured Image Credit: Riot Fest Facebook Page

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Chicago Blackhawks Draft Profile: Cole Perfetti by Ryan Sikes

Chicago Bulls: Team must bring Tom Thibodeau back by Ryan Sikes

The Chicago Cubs have a great president in Theo Epstein, but he would make a great commissioner for Major League Baseball.

The Chicago Cubs have done a lot of boneheaded things since winning the World Series in 2016. That doesn’t mean that Theo Epstein isn’t probably the greatest mind in the game today and in consideration for one of the best baseball operations managers in the history of the sport. They were a pretty bad organization before he showed up with his crew and now the Cubs are back to being one of the good franchises in the game of baseball. Theo deserves a lot of credit for that.

He ended an 86 year World Series drought for the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and a 108-year drought for the Chicago Cubs in 2016. That is a combined 196 years without a World Series title for the two franchises and Theo built championship rosters for each of them. He took on the two biggest droughts in the sport with two of the five most prominent franchises and ended them.

He has always said he wants to continue taking on bigger and more impressive challenges as his time goes on and there might not be a bigger one left in the game of baseball as far as baseball operations for an individual team. He ended two droughts in markets with incredible pressure on their teams so going somewhere like San Diego or Oakland would probably be taking on a challenge we all think he could deal with.

Of course, if he were to go be a general manager in another sport for a bad franchise that has a lot of pressure on them, that might be a task worth Theo’s time. The Ottawa Senators in the NHL or the Cleveland Browns of the NFL are on that level of pathetic in markets that are starving for a winner. With that said, Theo probably wants to remain in the game of baseball.

If he wants a new challenge, the most rewarding and challenging would be for him to go assume the role of the next commissioner of baseball. Nobody knows if that is something he can see himself doing but Rob Manfred is doing a lousy job. If Theo can be 90 percent as successful as a commissioner as he was a general manager or president of baseball operations, the MLB would be in amazing hands. That would be the ultimate challenge for a guy like that. He has little left to prove on the management side of things.

Rob Manfred has been awful as of late. He really messed up the Houston Astros cheating scandal and now he looks terrible in the negotiations trying to bring baseball back following the COVID-19 pandemic. Nobody knows if he would ever get fired but if something did happen, Theo would be great for the game.

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If we wanted a commissioner to come in and save baseball, Mr. Epstein has shown that he might have the tools to do so. He is an eloquent speaker and he knows how to get the most out of people working for him. He seems like the kind of guy that could reach the younger crowd with the game of baseball which is also really important in terms of growing this great game. His time with the Cubs has been nice but it is time for him to save baseball. There might not be a bigger challenge for him if he truly wants to keep completing harder challenges.

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Chicago Cubs: Theo Epstein should be next MLB commissioner by Vincent Parise

Could the Chicago Blackhawks add Cole Perfetti to an already talented group of left-wingers?

Over the last several years, the Chicago Blackhawks have collected quite the talented bunch of left-wingers on their roster. Most notably, Alex DeBrincat, despite still being 22 years of age, has tapped into his potential. The former 39th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft was on pace to come up just shy of his numbers from last year, but he still had 18 goals and 27 assists for 45 points in 70 games.

Dominik Kubalik was a former seventh-round pick of the LA Kings in the 2013 NHL Draft and was acquired for a fifth-round pick in 2019. In his first season, he tallied 30 goals with 16 assists for 46 points in 68 games, all while playing on the team’s third line. Along with a promising Chicago debut from Alex Nylander – ten goals, 16 assists for 26 points – and a serviceable fourth-liner in Drake Caggiula, the Blackhawks boast one of the better group of forwards along the left side.

Might they be interested in adding another via the draft?

Cole Perfetti brings a lot to the table, and he will likely be a top-five pick in the upcoming draft. The Whitby, Ontario native turned 18 in January and most recently spent all of last season playing in the OHL. For the Saginaw Spirit, Perfetti scored 37 goals with 74 assists for 111 points and a +49 plus-minus rating.

Skating

The best word to describe Perfetti is “active.” He is excellent at leading rushes down the ice and can turn on a dime. As seen in the clip below, he essentially creates his own shot, navigating around defenders while absorbing a hit along the boards before beautiful puck handling to avoid a turnover, creating a scoring chance. Not shown in the clip(s) below, but elsewhere, he can look a bit reckless in the neutral zone – perhaps trying to do too much – and loses the puck.

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Offensive Game

Perfetti’s vision is off the charts. He has a great sense of where everyone is on the ice, and he’s aggressive when there is a puck to be won. His puck handling has been revered by scouts, and he draws so much attention from the opposition that other players open up. Perfetti likes to get everyone involved in the offense, but he’s also not afraid to keep the puck and fire it on goal.

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Defensive Game

At 5-foot-10, 185 pounds, Perfetti has an active stick with a great sense of anticipation. He intercepts passes in enemy territory and utilizes his breakaway speed heading the opposite direction.

Next: Draft Profile: Jake Sanderson

He’s not going to deliver the big hit into the boards, but he does enough that can frustrate opponents enough to turn the puck over. Perfetti is agile to win the battles up against the boards.

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Chicago Cubs: Theo Epstein should be next MLB commissioner by Vincent Parise

When the Chicago Bulls are able to formally interview head coaching candidates, Tom Thibodeau should be atop the list.

Finally under new leadership, Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas’ first move, when the league’s return-to-play proposal is officially imposed, will be to hire a new coach. Jim Boylen’s .317 winning percentage, accompanied by the players’ resounding doubts about his abilities to steer the team back in the right direction, is reason enough for the Bulls to move on.

And while it would seem that 76ers assistant Ime Udoka is the preferred candidate, could the Bulls turn to a familiar face? From 2010-2015, Tom Thibodeau led the Bulls to a .647 winning percentage, including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals and two Central division titles.

Under Thibodeau, the Bulls went from a middle-of-the-pack defense under Vinny Del Negro to the league’s best defense overnight, allowing just 90.8 points-per-game in Thibs’ first season. That was the theme over his six-year tenure in Chicago while developing stars in both Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler became household names.

The Bulls have been downright unwatchable since, as the firing of Thibodeau in May 2015 started a series of unfortunate events as the team would trade Rose, trade Butler, trade Luol Deng, and let Joakim Noah walk in free agency. And the Bulls have been irrelevant since.

Now with potential superstars in both Zach LaVine and Coby White, history could be repeating itself, and Thibodeau would be a great option to help grow these young Bulls into a championship-caliber team.

Of course, there’s the concern about Thibodeau mismanaging his players’ minutes, as noted by Rose’s injury in Game 1 of the 2012 playoff game against the 76ers up 12 with less than a minute and a half to go. Butler also played a league-high 38.7 minutes-per-game in both the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. That trend continued as both Butler and Thibodeau moved onto the Timberwolves together.

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Still, the fact of the matter is that Tom Thibodeau made the Chicago Bulls fun to watch again, after going nearly a decade of miserable basketball, post-Jordan era. There’s absolutely no reason that the Bulls, one of the league’s biggest markets, should be a bottom-feeder every year.

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And now that Gar Forman is out of the picture, Thibodeau should have an easier time working with the front office. Of course, he and John Paxson would have to have that conversation, so the two parties are on the same side going forward.

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